Fate of 672 tenants of Siddharth Nagar Goregoan Patra Chawl is hanging in balance as the proposed groundbreaking ceremony scheduled on January 26 was postponed.
The residents are now in a state of anxiety and are clueless about the project’s completion. Secretary, Goregoan Siddharth Nagar Gruhnirman Maryadit (tenants association), Makrand Parab said, "In the recent past, we have written a few letters to MHADA seeking clarity on what is going on. However, there has been no reply. MHADA should at least start paying us rent, he demanded.
"As many as 50 per cent of the tenants are staying in rented houses. It is very difficult for the middle income group family in Mumbai to pay rent along with other expenses. The previous builder had stopped paying rent since 2014. It would be some relief for us if MHADA bears it," said Parab.
An insider said,the leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government are not giving time for the bhoomi pujan. One of the ministers was travelling to Aurangbad on January 26. Similarly, other party leaders were also busy. The bhoomi pujan programme has been postponed indefinitely due as no leaders are available.
The much awaited Patra Chawl project, has been languishing for the past 13 years. Along with the 672 original tenants, other private homebuyers of Ekta, Kalpataru, KBJ projects that are part of the Patra Chawl, have also been hit badly. These developers cannot get occupancy certificate until the rehabilitation portion is completed as per the previous agreement condition.
The Free Press Journal has been writing about the project and highlighting the grievance of the homebuyers since long. MHADA had recently completed the process of tendering to go ahead with the redevelopment of Patra Chawl. The previous developer has completed only 40 per cent of the rehabilitation work and a fresh contractor needs to be appointed to complete the remaining work.
